The quiet morning silence of Privet Drive was ruptured by the loud yelling of an over-weight, mustached man. The object of his ire was a painfully thin young boy, who looked to be three years of age. The scrawny frame was huddled in a ball on the front lawn and despite his position one could see the wild black hair and the oversized glasses the boy wore. Moments after the yelling began the walrus-like man grabbed the tiny boy and dragged him by his oversized clothes into number four. More screaming could be heard though muffled by the walls of the dwelling. Not long after the fat man dragged the young boy into the house a bright light lit the windows from with in and on the kitchen table of number four was an old fashioned parchment envelope addressed to one Harry Potter, who happened to be the scrawny boy.

Vernon Dursley gave the envelope a fearful glance before returning his angry gaze to the slight boy he had the misfortune of calling his nephew. The little boy cowered away from the angry look he was receiving and glanced out of the corner of his eye at the letter sitting on the kitchen table. The green eyed boy could make out his name on the envelope since the print was really dark. He had just learned to read and write his name in school. He wondered what the letter said, but knew his uncle would never let him touch the envelope. While his uncle began yet another rant about his freakishness he immersed himself into his favourite fantasy. He dreamed the letter was from his parents and that it told him that they were coming to get him from the Dursleys' and that they were sorry for ever leaving him with them. He sighed when he felt his uncle grab his arm and shake him roughly. Uncle Vernon shoved him into a chair and grabbed the letter on the table and opened it at arms length, as if he was expecting in to explode. Vernon scanned the letter and a grin formed on the fat man's face and Harry wanted desperately to disappear. Any time his uncle smiled meant pain for Harry. Fortunately for the green eyed boy his Aunt Petunia and fat cousin Dudley came home. Instead of the pounding or verbal abuse he was expecting he watched wide eyed as his uncle crowed about getting rid of him. Harry didn't know what to think, but when his aunt demanded that his uncle tell her what was going on Harry listened closely as his uncle read the letter out loud.

My dearest Harry,

If you're reading this then it means I'm no longer here to see you grow and perhaps marry, but please know that I love you very much as does your father. I've had the family barrister send this once our estate was settled and especially if your godfather, Sirius Black, was some how unable to take you in. The reason for this letter is to tell you that due to a curse cast on your father that he was unable to have children without help and as a result you were conceived thanks to the help of another man who was genetically and magically compatible to your father. That man was Severus Snape and I've sent him another letter informing him of this. You're one of the few boys in the world that has two fathers. Unlike many of the other children you may know who have two fathers, you're genetically related to your second dad. I'm glad that you'll have someone who'll want you and love you for you. The reason why he wasn't the one you were sent to after your father's and my deaths is complicated. Due to Severus' job we had to wipe the memory of his contribution to our efforts in having you. I've asked him to come and get you and I know he'd jump at the chance to raise you. He was my friend once a long, long time ago and I know he's always wanted a child of his own. Be patient with your other father, Harry. He may seem cold and uncaring, Harry, but he has the truest heart I've ever met. Give him a chance to open up my son.

Yours forever,

Mum

"I wonder when that Freak is going to get this little monster." Uncle Vernon threw the letter on the table after reading it to Aunt Petunia. "We always knew you were unnatural, boy. Now we've got proof of it. Who in the world other than a freak has two fathers?"

Harry wasn't given a chance to say anything, not that they expected an answer from him. He was going to try and grab the letter when his Aunt swept it up and tore it into small pieces and tossing them into the garbage. He'd have to bide his time and fish the pieces out of the trash when he was doing the washing up. Harry wasn't left to his own devices for long. As soon as his Aunt realized that he didn't have a chore she set him to making sandwiches for their lunch. If he was lucky there would be a lunchmeat in the refrigerator that Dudley didn't like and he'd have a decent lunch for the first time this week. All week at school his overweight cousin would steal the meager lunch his Aunt sent him to school with after devouring the huge lunch that was made for him.

He quietly slide into his seat after the rest of the family sat and began to eat, though in Dudley and Uncle Vernon's case it was more like shoveling. His Aunt sat there eating a ham sandwich as if she was at a Tea with the Queen or at least a Duchess or two. Harry quietly nibbled at the small triangle of salami sandwich, a meat Dudley loathed with a passion, especially the salami with the pepper corns. As he ate his lunch, his thoughts dwelled back to the letter that Uncle Vernon read to his aunt. He wondered what this man that his mother said was coming for him was like. Would he really want Harry? When would he come for him? His mind was so full of questions that he didn't hear his uncle speaking to him until he was slapped so hard in the face that he fell to the floor.

"You will listen when I'm speaking, boy!" Uncle Vernon roared at the cowering boy. "You'll clean the kitchen. I'll come back for you when you're done, nuisance."

Harry set to washing the dishes and cleaning the table and floor as quickly as he could before his uncle returned. He really didn't want to know what his uncle had in store for him. His face hurt dreadfully and he was afraid to go to the bathroom to check. He was about to throw away the scraps of crust Dudley always left when he saw the scraps of funny paper in the garbage and remembered the letter from his mum. Quickly he gathered all the pieces he could find, hoping that he got them all, and stuffed them in the pocket of his worn, oversized clothes. He managed to throw the crusts away before his uncle came storming in. Harry quickly washed the last dish and set it in the rack after drying it. He started to turn to his uncle, but was backhanded once again as he tried to face the older man. Uncle Vernon started on his usual spiel of vitriol and Harry wondered if his other father would actually want him. How could he if his mother's family didn't want anything to do with him. For the first time in Harry in months he received a beating from his uncle instead of the occasional slap and before darkness firmly took him, he found himself being thrown into the cupboard under the stairs. Once the door was closed and locked Harry blacked out.

When the young boy work up he was in a world of pain and no position was comfortable to lie in. He listened closely to the sounds outside the cupboard and when he didn't hear anyone he began to try the cupboard door. Unfortunately for him in was locked so there was no hope of trying to sneak out and raid the refrigerator or trash for food. Harry sighed and pulled on the chain the turned the light in his 'room' on. Luckily Uncle Vernon left it in this time. Usually the fat man would take the light bulb when he was as furious as he was today. Since Harry couldn't get out of the cupboard he slowly sat up, reaching for the battered paper back book Dudley threw out several days earlier. As he did so something in his pockets crackled and when he reached in he removed many pieces of torn paper. It took his pain addled mind several minutes to remember why he had those bits and what they were. With an eagerness rarely displayed anymore, Harry quickly removed the paper and began to put the pieces together like a jigsaw puzzle, using the stolen cello tape he nicked from Aunt Petunia to make the pieces stay together.

He smiled happily as he finished taping the last piece to the letter. He finally had something of his mother's and he just wished that there was a picture of her so for once he'd know what she looked like. He sighed again and wondered how long he was unconscious for this time. It wasn't very often that he was beaten until he passed out, but each time he had no clue how time had passed. He hoped that the man he mother wrote about would come soon. He truly wanted to leave the Dursleys' and he didn't think this man could be any worse than his current guardians. Fear filled him when he realized that the man may not want him despite his mother's reassurances in her letter. No telling what the Dursleys would do to him if that was the case.

The days passed slowly and every time someone knocked on the door he hoped that it was Severus Snape. As the days progressed Uncle Vernon became more violent and abusive. There wasn't a part of his body that didn't hurt or sport a bruise. Harry was afraid to come out of his cupboard room and frequently huddled in the smallest part of the small space so that his uncle couldn't get a finger hold on him. He was becoming increasingly desperate and was considering running away from this house of horror. When his uncle wasn't trying to beat him to death his aunt was heaping loads of verbal abuse on him. He didn't know that was abuse, but he knew that the other kids' families didn't treat their offspring, nieces and nephews like that.

Harry's stomach was growling so loud he was surprised his uncle didn't come in to tell him to be quiet. He was too scared to come out even at night to sneak something to eat or even go to the bathroom. A couple of times his aunt tossed a couple of pieces of stale bread into the cupboard and they let him out once and a while to use the rest room. At those times he took the opportunity to fill the old thermos he found in the tiny storage room with water and drink as much as he could from the tap since he didn’t know when they'd let him out again. He just hoped he didn't wet himself since he no longer had extra clothes to wear. Uncle Vernon had taken the few extra sets of Dudley's old clothes during this latest incarceration, saying that a freak like him didn't need any extra clothes.

He hoped and prayed that the other man would come for him soon. He didn't like the dangerous glint in his uncle's eyes and everyday Harry stayed at the Dursleys' after that letter arrived, the worse that look became. Harry didn't fancy his chances of staying whole if no one came for him.

It was two weeks since the letter arrived and Harry was once again doing all the chores Dudley wouldn't do or Aunt Petunia didn't like to do. There wasn't any sign of Severus Snape and Harry didn't expect to ever see the man. Since the man never showed to take him away Vernon's verbal abuse became increasingly worse and the fat man became to abuse him far more frequently. Despite his low grades, mostly due to the fact that it wouldn't do to show Dudley up in school, Harry knew what was happening to him was wrong, but didn't bother mentioning it to anyone, figuring that they wouldn't believe him at all. He had given up hope of ever escaping his aunt, uncle and cousin and it showed in his eyes. They weren't the vibrant, healthy green they once were. Instead they were dull and shadowed. They would have looked more at home on a grizzled veteran of World War II. It was a sad state of affairs for the young boy and Harry slowly lost more and more weight as the days passed.

By the end of another two weeks Harry was nothing more than skin and bone and he hadn't been seen in school the entire time. No one questioned his absence and it afforded his uncle the chance to do more damage to his unwanted frame. He was covered everywhere with bruises. These days he didn't see the outside world at all. His routine was cleaning the house and eating what ever scraps his 'family' allowed him. It was a month after the letter came and it was a Saturday, which meant his uncle was home all day. Unfortunately he couldn't hide from the big man, who expected him to do work a work load that grown men would find difficult, let alone a small boy of five. Harry was struggling to fold the blankets that his aunt washed earlier; he wasn't allowed to touch the washer at all, while his uncle and cousin watched some type of sporting event on the telly. He wanted what he cousin had, though he didn't bother trying to sneak a glance anymore. His dull routine was interrupted when someone rang the front door bell. Before opening the door his uncle shoved him into the cupboard so no one would see how he was treated by his relatives.

He heard through the closed door his uncle inviting someone into the house. Who ever it was spoke very softly because Harry couldn't hear anything indicating someone else was in the parlour with his uncle. For the first time in weeks his curiosity was aroused and he tested the door to his cupboard. He silently made a wish and pushed on the door. To his surprise the door swung open silently. He slipped as quietly as he could and tried to ignore the dizzy spell that threatened to overwhelm him. He unfortunately was getting those more and more frequently these days. It hindered his ability to make it to the closed parlour door and it also gave him away to his uncle who came storming out of the room. It gave Harry a chance to peak at the stranger in the room. He definitely wasn't a good looking man. In fact he looked almost scarecrowish to Harry. The man had black hair that seemed very dirty since it hung in stringy hunks around his face. The man was very pale and he looked almost yellow to Harry's poor eyes. The man's face seemed to be deformed, though Harry guessed that it was because of his oversized hooked nose. What Harry could see of the rest of the man, he was tall and thin though he didn't know how much of that was due to the black clothes the man wore. He wondered who it was and why the person came here, especially given the unpleasant look on the thin yellowish face.

Harry was grabbed by the back of his neck and propelled into the hallway by his uncle's heavy hand. Vernon was getting a lungful of air to begin yelling at him when the other man entered the hallway and began to speak.

"Mr. Dursley, I'm a busy man. I do not have the time to wait while you deal with your other child." The man's voice was very soft though Harry could hear the hint of steel beneath the silky tones.

"I'm sorry Mr. Snape." Uncle Vernon said while pushing Harry's head down, but the moment Harry heard the other man's name he did his best to look up at the other man. "This one doesn't listen to anything I say and he's far more trouble than he's worth." Harry's uncle did his best to push Harry down the hall, but he was fighting as best he could.

He managed to wiggle out of Vernon's grasp since the heavy man wasn't holding on to him too tightly since there was a witness in the house. He looked up at Mr. Snape and couldn't control his expression any more. The hope he thought he successfully abandoned a while ago resurfaced and shown through his eyes. He couldn't help the pleading expression he knew was on his face when he looked up and met the darkest eyes he had ever seen. What he didn't expect was the shocked gasp Mr. Snape let out nor the look of recognition from the thin man. Even more shocking was the sudden anger that crossed the man's face and for the first time in Harry's short life that anger wasn't directed at him.